Trump Administration Backs Bayer in Supreme Court Roundup Battle

On Monday, U.S. Solicitor General D. John Sauer recommended that the high court review a 2023 Missouri jury verdict that awarded $1.25 million to John Durnell, a man who attributed his non-Hodgkin lymphoma to the use of Roundup. The move aligns the federal government with Bayer, which acquired Monsanto in 2018 and has since faced over 170,000 claims, paying out more than $10 billion in settlements to date. The administration’s brief argues that federal law under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) should preempt state efforts to enforce stricter warning labels.

This stance marks a sharp shift for Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who built his political brand as a fierce critic of Monsanto and pesticide industry capture. During his 2024 presidential run, Kennedy vowed to ban harmful agricultural chemicals, yet he recently signaled to the Senate Appropriations Committee that he would not jeopardize the business model of farmers who rely on glyphosate-based products. Critics, including Elizabeth Kucinich, have labeled the DOJ's intervention a betrayal of the "Make America Healthy Again" platform, arguing that the administration is prioritizing corporate regulatory protection over public health concerns. The EPA’s current position, which maintains that glyphosate is not likely to be carcinogenic, remains a point of intense contention following a 2022 appellate court ruling that voided earlier agency assessments for relying on inconsistent, industry-supplied data.